NVIDIA on Linux, an update

Another in the sequence of "update" posts.

I must say I was wrong when I said "bloody Nvidia drivers for Linux" here

Well, after three more Debian installations, I found out that the problem was not with the Nvidia drivers but with what they do when they are installed.

Err, let me clarify. On your first boot, Debian has a particular xorg.conf that it follows till you install, let's say nvidia-kernel-173.14.09. When you install this, the xorg.conf is replaced by an effectively blank xorg.conf

A way out, you ask? Well, install nvidia-xconfig and run it as superuser (as root, or use su) it will rewrite your xorg.conf. Reboot.

To further fine tune your control over your Nvidia graphics card/chipset, install nvidia-settings. Incase of Ubuntu, it will show up in Applications>System Tools, but somehow doesn't do so on Debian. Well, sudo nvidia-settings in the terminal does the job. So, no more complaints.

Sorry, Nvidia.

Pidgin for dummies, an update

I once wrote how to setup your Google Talk account on Pidgin, but that was on Windows.There are a few differences how to go about the same in Linux, and this post covers it.

If you have any doubts, please refer to the previous discussion here or leave a query in the comments section.

The only change is in the Advanced tab. You do not need to check the "Require SSL/TLS" but you need to check the "Allow plaintext auth over unencrypted streams"

Leave the connect port and connect server as they are.

Set the "Proxy Options" if you connect to the net through a proxy and want to specify a particular proxy, or leave it to "Use Gnome Proxy Settings" or "Use Environmental Settings".

Here is a screenshot.



Don't forget to click on Save!

[24/01/2009] Edit: You still have to check the "Require SSL/TLS" in case you are running Windows

NVIDIA on Linux

:X or :@ I'm angry with the bloody Nvidia drivers for Linux. Anyway, this post is supposed to be helpful, not a rant.

I upgraded from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10 when it came out. Then, I installed nvidia-kernel-2.6.26 which was my default nvidia stuff on Hardy and lo, my X crashed. It tried restarting some n times, with no success. So well, what was the problem. I still dunno. But the solution was to install the package nvidia-kernel-173.14.09 The last two numbers will vary, though. Lucky that I found this while random browsing on a friend's computer.

That did it.

A few weeks later, I wanted to use Debian, so, well, I removed Intrepid and installed Etch (Debian 40r5). This time, I upgraded, and installed nvidia-kernel-173. And guess what, it crashed again. I tried removing it and installing nvidia-kernel-2.6.26 which worked on Ubuntu 8.04. Well, it did not work this time. The solution? nvidia-kernel-2.6.26-1-openvz-amd64

I have absolutely no idea what is going on. But this worked. It installed an additional kernel though. I now boot into a kernel which is identified by Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-openvz-amd64

Hope this will remain a note for me in the future, for further X crashes.

Update: Well, this was helpful, but a better realization was this

Comix : "Could not find unrar executable. Please install it if you wish to open RAR achives"

Comix is the software used to open *.cbr and *.cbz files on Linux.

In Windows Comic Reader was my favorite but now that I have completely moved on to Linux, installation of Comix was deemed necessary.

Comix by default can open *.cbz files.

To open *.cbr files using Comix, you need to install the unrar executable by the following procedure.

$sudo apt-get install unrar

Done. :)

Update to Psi faqs Part1 : From the PsiWiki

In one of my previous posts , i talked of how to solve the SSL/TLS problem with psi for Google Talk .

Here is what the wiki for Psi has to say.

** Linux users must ensure that they have the QCA-TLS package installed first. SSL encryption will not work otherwise and you will not be able to connect to your Google Talk account.

And about the stupid help at Google's website(ya, they do have a section aptly titled "Why are these instructions different from Google's instructions?"

The answer: Google uses psi 0.9.3 for their instructions. The method described here is for psi 0.10.

As of writing the post, psi 0.10 is the latest release and 0.11 is put up for testing.

A must for all psi users: Visit Psi's Website and the psi Wiki

Another problem solved: Force 32-bit programs to run on a 64-bit machine

Phew, it took me 2 hrs of searching and some screwing up my system to get to install Picasa on Ubuntu 7.04

Hint provided by Google.

Q: Will Picasa run on a 64-bit version of Linux?

Yes, but you’ll need to configure the system to provide 32-bit compatibility libraries.

Please refer to your Linux distribution’s help information for more on how to establish those libraries. On Debian, they come in a package called ia32-libs.

Simple now.

Download and install ia32-libs. All that Google means by "establishing those libraries" is to get them installed.

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Then download the 32-bit version of Picasa .I was using Ubuntu, so the .deb extension.

By default,it is downloaded to the Desktop directory. Similar instructions otherwise.

cd Desktop
sudo dpkg --force-architecture -i picasa_2.2.2820-5_i386.deb

Changes will be needed to the package name as per the version downloaded.

Messages(*warning*) will be shown that the installation is 'forced'.

Disclaimer:I [NpoWEr], the author of this post do disclaim any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of the above described method. It has worked for me.

That was just for some fun, cmon guys ,it'll work unless you screwed your system beforehand :D

Psi faqs Part 1: "Cannot enable SSL/TLS. Plugin not found"

All you guys using Linux must have heard of Gaim, Kopete ,etc. One among these and one of my favorites is Psi.

Nicely named ,this is simpler and offers more than what Gaim does.

The purpose of this post ,however ,is just to help out guys out there who are(going to) facing(face) problems setting this kid up.

Firstly, a reading of "How do I configure Psi for Google Talk? " on Google Talk Help would definitely help.

That aside, one problem that users generally face is when you check the "Use SSL encryption(to server)" box, an error message pops up saying "Cannot enable SSL/TLS. Plugin not found" .Now, what do you do?

The answer, which I did a lot of Googling and some hunt in the local repository (I use Ubuntu and IIT Kharagpur does have a 'local mirror' for that) is to install libqca-tls, qca-tls, libqca-ssl or qca-ssl package. One of these would do.

And if you are very new to Linux, here is how you go about installing it from your repository.

apt-get install libqca-tls

If not successful, replace libqca-tls with one of the given packages till you get your lucky one